1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
In electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, a travel motor and an inverter device for driving this travel motor often are connected by a wiring harness having an electromagnetic wave shielding function. However, in recent years, it has been considered to connect an inverter device and a motor by direct-connection type connectors without using a wiring harness, for example, as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-280913) for the miniaturization and weight reduction of a device configuration.
A configuration in which the inverter device (power converter) and the motor (electric motor) are accommodated respectively in individual metal casings and a male connector and a female connector to be connected to each other are fixed to the respective metal casings is disclosed in the above publication. The two connectors can be fitted and connected by arranging the inverter device near the motor so that both devices can be connected electrically without using a wiring harness.
Particularly in devices subject to a lot of vibration such as those mounted in a vehicle, both devices cannot be arranged at a very short distance from each other if the collision of the devices caused by vibration is considered. Further, since terminal fittings and, eventually, the connector housings are enlarged as ampacities of the connectors increase. Thus, a gap between the both devices has to be widened.
Thus, noise may leak out from the above gap between the devices and a reduction of the electromagnetic wave shielding property has become problematic in connectors of a type directly connected to devices.